On
October, 06, 1994, Mir-17 (Aleksandr
Viktorenko and Yelena
Kondakova) arrived at
Mir together with
ESA
astronaut Ulf
Merbold aboard
Soyuz TM-20, Valeri
Polyakov was again to remain aboard on his record duration
flight. During final approach,
Soyuz TM-20 yawed unexpectedly. Aleksandr
Viktorenko assumed manual control and completed docking
without incident. Yelena
Kondakova, the mission rookie, was the third Russian female
cosmonaut and the first female to take part in a long-duration flight. Ulf
Merbold was a physicist and veteran of two U.S. Space Shuttle
missions. The month-long EuroMir 94 experiment program was considered a
precursor to the
ESA
Columbus module planned for the joint U.S.-Russia-ESA-Japan-Canada space station. Ulf
Merbold's program was planned rapidly, final agreement
between ESA and Russian having been concluded in November
1992. It was also constrained by funding limitations -
ESA
budgeted only about $60 million for EuroMir 94. Because of these limitations,
Ulf Merbold relied heavily on equipment left on
Mir by earlier French, Austrian, and German visitors
to the station, as well as the Czech-built CSK-1 materials processing furnace.
He also used equipment delivered by
Progress
M-24 and
Soyuz TM-20. Ulf
Merbold's experiment program included 23 life sciences, 4
materials sciences, and 3 technology experiments.

As part of the program
EuroMir 94 Ulf
Merbold and the resident crew performed a scientific research
program to test organism in weightlessness and long duration missions. Ulf
Merbolds experiment program included 23 life sciences, 4
materials sciences, and 3 technology experiments.

On October 11, 1994
the six cosmonauts aboard
Mir were unable to activate a video camera and TV
lights while recharging
Soyuz TM-20's batteries. A short circuit had disabled
the computer which guided
Mir's solar arrays, forcing the station to drain its
batteries. The cosmonauts used reaction control thrusters on the
Soyuz TM-spacecraft docked to the station to orient it
so its solar arrays would point toward the Sun, and switched on a backup
computer. Normal conditions were restored by October 15, 1994.

Ground
teams rescheduled Ulf
Merbold's experiments to allow completion of those
interrupted by the power problems, and moved experiments using large amounts of
electricity to the end of Ulf
Merbold's stay. In addition, the Czech-built CSK-1 furnace
malfunctioned, forcing postponement of five of Ulf
Merbold's experiments until after his return to
Earth.

On November 03, 1994 Talgat
Musabayev, Yuri
Malenchenko, and Ulf
Merbold undocked in Soyuz TM-19 and backed 190 m from
Mir. They then activated the Kurs automatic approach
system, which successfully redocked the spacecraft. The cosmonauts then
transferred back to
Mir. The test was related to the difficulties
Soyuz TM-20 and
Progress
M-24 experienced during their automatic approaches. Final undocking and reentry
the following day occurred without incident.

On November 04, 1994 Ulf
Merbold again squeezed into the
Soyuz TM-19 descent module, together
with the Mir-16 crew
of Yuri
Malenchenko and Talgat
Musabayev, and 16 kg of the life sciences samples he
collected during his stay on the station. Additional samples - including
materials processing samples to be produced when the
Mir-17 cosmonauts
carry out the experiments Ulf
Merbold was to have conducted during his stay - were to be
returned to Earth by Space Shuttle Atlantis in mid-1995.
Soyuz TM-19 undocking, deorbit burn,
reentry, and landing occurred without significant incident.

The
freighter Progress
M-25 blasted off from Baikonur on November 11, 1994 at 07:21
UTC for a flight of two days to the
Mir station.On November 13, 1994
Progress
M-25 arrived. Aleksandr
Viktorenko stood by at the remote control panel on
Mir during approach, but manual intervention was
unnecessary. Valeri
Polyakov, veteran of the
Progress
M-24 problems, called
Progress
M-25 "an ideal freighter". Among other cargoes,
Progress
M-25 delivered replacement parts for the failed CSK-1 materials processing
furnace. Progress
M-25 docked with
Mir on November 13, 1994 at 09:04:29
UTC, undocked on February 16, 1995 at 13:03:00
UTC and was destroyed in reentry on February 16, 1995
at 16:45:00
UTC.

On January 11, 1995 between 09:00 and
09:25
UTC the
Soyuz TM-20 flew autonomously to test the Kurs
approach and docking system at the forward transition section of the
Mir complex. Problems during some docking operations
in August/September 1994 (Progress
M-24) and on October 06, 1994 (Soyuz TM-20) made this operation necessary. Long
before
Soyuz TM-20 separated from the complex the whole crew
was on board of that ship and thoroughly tested all systems. According to the
plan the
Soyuz TM-20 executed the approach and docking fully
automatically by use of the Kurs system. Aleksandr
Viktorenko, assisted by Yelena
Kondakova, was ready to take over manually if something went
wrong or in case of a too high fuel consumption.
Soyuz TM-20 perfectly linked to the station at
09:24:57
UTC, the aberrations remained far within the limits,
just before docking less than 0.5 degrees. The good functioning of the Kurs
systems is indispensable for the execution of the program for this
year.

They had to cope with technical problems with the heating,
drinking-water, pressure control and with a leakage of water in the
Kristall
module. With the help of advice from experts on earth they solved the problems.
On January 23, 1995
TsUP gave Aleksandr
Viktorenko attitude control data to adjust the attitude of
the complex in such a way that the solar panels of the
Kristall
module could deliver a maximum of energy. Valeri
Polyakov continued his medical checks and experiments. On
request by experts on earth the crew filmed and observed the areas of Kobe in
Japan and Grozny. On January 21, 1995 they transmitted these images to earth.
It was not always possible to do this due to clouds and bad weather in the
areas of interest. Also on January 21, 1995 Valeri
Polyakov gave a lecture for Russian children, members of an
organization for young people interested in spaceflight. During a long
TV-session via Altair Valeri
Polyakov explained how the systems in the base block worked.
Extensively he explained all about the production and delivery of oxygen for
the complex and the purification of the air on board. He emphasized the
necessity of the permanent survey of the life systems and a regular
maintenance.

Space Shuttle STS-63 performed the first rendezvous maneuver with the
Mir space station. After extensive negotiations and
technical information exchanges between U.S. and Russian space teams, Russians
concluded close approach could be safely achieved and the
STS-63 crew was given 'go' to proceed.
R1U thruster manifold was closed and the backup thruster was selected for the
approach. Ship-to-ship radio contact with
Mir was achieved well ahead of time, and Vladimir
Titov, who had previously lived on
Mir for more than a year, communicated excitedly with
the three cosmonauts aboard the space station:
Mir-17Commander Aleksandr
Viktorenko;
Flight Engineer Yelena
Kondakova; and Valeri
Polyakov, a physician who had broken Vladimir
Titov's record for extended time in space. After
stationkeeping at a distance of 122 meters (400 ft) from
Mir and with James
Wetherbee manually controlling the orbiter,
Discovery was flown to 11 meters (36 ft)
from the Russian space station. "As we are bringing our spaceships closer
together, we are bringing our nations closer together", James
Wetherbee said after Discovery was at point of closest approach. "The next time we
approach, we will shake your hand and together we will lead our world into the
next millennium." The closest approach to
Mir of 11 meters (36 ft) occurred on February 06, 1995
at 19:23:20
UTC. "We are one. We are human", Aleksandr
Viktorenko responded. James
Wetherbee then backed away to 122 meters (400 ft) and
performed one and a quarter-loop flyaround of
Mir while station was filmed and photographed. The
Mir crew reported no vibrations or solar array
movement as result of the approach.

The freighter Progress
M-26 was launched from Baikonur on February 15, 1995 at 16:48:27
UTC and docked at the aft (Kvant1)
docking port of the
Mir complex on February 17, 1995 at 18:21:36
UTC.
Progress
M-26 had to deliver new supplies to the
Mir station, i.e. water, fuel, oxygen, oxidizers,
food, but also materials for the extension of the on board systems, repair
material for the drinking water installation, post and a new board
documentation, medical goods, underwear etc. and an amount of 132 KG hard- and
software for the experiments of the American Norman
Thagard. The enormous cargo made it impossible to equip
Progress
M-26 with a VBK (ballistic return capsule). The vessel undocked on
March, 15, 1995 at 02:26:38
UTC and was destroyed in reentry over the Pacific
Ocean on March, 15, 1995 at 06:15:00
UTC.

The
Soyuz spacecraft is composed of three elements
attached end-to-end - the Orbital Module, the Descent Module and the
Instrumentation/Propulsion Module. The crew occupied the central element, the
Descent Module. The other two modules are jettisoned prior to re-entry. They
burn up in the atmosphere, so only the Descent Module returned to
Earth.Having shed two-thirds of its mass, the
Soyuz reached Entry Interface - a point 400,000 feet
(121.9 kilometers) above the Earth, where friction due to the thickening
atmosphere began to heat its outer surfaces. With only 23 minutes left before
it lands on the grassy plains of central Asia, attention in the module turned
to slowing its rate of descent.Eight minutes later, the spacecraft was
streaking through the sky at a rate of 755 feet (230 meters) per second. Before
it touched down, its speed slowed to only 5 feet (1.5 meter) per second, and it
lands at an even lower speed than that. Several onboard features ensure that
the vehicle and crew land safely and in relative comfort.Four parachutes,
deployed 15 minutes before landing, dramatically slowed the vehicle's rate of
descent. Two pilot parachutes were the first to be released, and a drogue chute
attached to the second one followed immediately after. The drogue, measuring 24
square meters (258 square feet) in area, slowed the rate of descent from 755
feet (230 meters) per second to 262 feet (80 meters) per second.The main
parachute was the last to emerge. It is the largest chute, with a surface area
of 10,764 square feet (1,000 square meters). Its harnesses shifted the
vehicle's attitude to a 30-degree angle relative to the ground, dissipating
heat, and then shifted it again to a straight vertical descent prior to
landing.The main chute slowed the
Soyuz to a descent rate of only 24 feet (7.3 meters)
per second, which is still too fast for a comfortable landing. One second
before touchdown, two sets of three small engines on the bottom of the vehicle
fired, slowing the vehicle to soften the landing.

The
Soyuz TM-20 made a safe landing at about 50 km from
the city Arkalyk in Kazakhstan on March 22, 1995 at 04:03:50
UTC.
Soyuz TM-20 landed only 10 km from the estimated
aiming point. The return operation was executed as planned: On March 21, 1995
at 21:35
UTC closing of the hatches, March 22, 1995 at 00:40
UTC separation from the
Mir station, 03:15
UTC starting engines to reduce speed to start descent
and a safe landing at 04:04
UTC. In the hour before the landing (between 03:06 and
03:49
UTC) radio traffic of
Soyuz TM-20 with
TsUP via
Mir and Altair could be monitored. Aleksandr
Viktorenko and Yelena
Kondakova reported the operational data. Separation of motor
compartment and life compartment occurred at 03:39:55
UTC. From 03:40
UTC radio silence caused by the plasma-heath.When
the crew landed, Valeri
Polyakov was onboard and became the world record holder (438
days in space in one flight).